20 Signs Your Parent Might Be An Unsafe Driver

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We’ve all heard the stories: An elderly woman hits the accelerator instead of the brakes and crashes into a building. A 90-year-old man backs his Cadillac onto a sidewalk and hits 10 people.

Driving helps older adults stay mobile and independent, but the risk of being injured or killed in a motor vehicle crash increases as people age. Statistics show that older drivers are more likely than younger ones to be involved in crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In fact an average of 500 older adults is injured every day in crashes.

Here are some warning signs that indicate a senior might not be safe to drive, according to the NHTSA:

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One very important element is that many drugs used "to help" old people are in face responsible of a lack of expertise in day a day life.
This is a real cause of loss of ability.
Some old persons are taken sleeping pills and in the morning other pills to "wake up", add to this treatments, some psychotropic drugs to "help them to live"...
You could imagine the result of such treatmens on the body, on the mind of the person.
Thus, old persons fell real difficulties to accomplish things of every days.

If we really want to help old persons, be aware of what drugs they are using as a treatment.
In some countries, more then 60 percent of old persons are "ill from using to much drugs" !

My mom is tired of chauffering my dad around, so she pushed him to drive again. His license hasn't been revoked in 23 yrs. (DUI when he was 53)

The problem with this is that:
My dad has had 3 strokes and two heart attacks.
My dad was full of "adult male driver hubris" when he was healthy enough to drive.
He has almost killed himself (at least 3X to my knowledge) because he refused NOT to tailgate.
My dad is an A N G R Y driver.
My dad has totalled 3 vehicles.

So if you live close to the NJ/PA border, you may wish to be a tad more careful out there. Wish I could tell you what he's driving these days, but I can't.
You could say that I should alert the PA police, but they're the ones who said he COULD drive.
I live over 700 miles away and my father has told me quite plainly that he thinks I'm an asshole, so please don't admonish me to do anything about this. I just wanted to warn folks out there.

I agree that the elderly are NOT the only ones who can display these signs. I have personally seen teenage dirvers do many of te same things and often on purpose!)--and then there are those who have had troo much to drink (or are on other chemical substances), most of whom I would imagine are not elderly.

For Mom, the kesy were taken away not because she had any of these signs but because she kept forgetting where she was going.

I agree that the elderly are NOT the only ones who can display these signs. I have personally seen teenage dirvers do many of te same things and often on purpose!)--and then there are those who have had troo much to drink (or are on other chemical substances), most of whom I would imagine are not elderly.

For Mom, the kesy were taken away not because she had any of these signs but because she kept forgetting where she was going.

My daughters father-in-law was hit and run over by an elderly woman who hit the gas instead of the brakes, on the sidewalk no less!! No license, no insurance...she just drove to the local Wal-Greens around the corner from her house. Damn near killed him as he walked out the door!!!

A few months back I was in a line of traffic on a one-way street with 2 lanes bumper to bumper. Here comes an elderly man, driving the wrong way and shouting out his window "help me"! I have no idea how he missed hitting other cars but we all pulled on to sidewalks or onto the lane separater...thank God no one was walking!!!